TWO weeks had passed since the EXPO incident. News of what had happened had spread around the world. As predicted, things were going very badly for Grafton. All law enforcement agencies were on the lookout for him. Larissa and Tristan had managed to make it back to the Malibu house and used their private security force to lock down the house so that they could remain hidden from the public. All the while, Grafton himself remained hidden, but it wasn't long before the GDF started to get some anonymous tips stating Grafton had been sighted and was up to something that wasn't good.
As Thunderbird 5 moved slowly in orbit above the North American continent, a powerful long-range camera zoomed in towards New York and Manhattan Island in particular. It focused on the helipad on top of one of the many buildings located in The Big Apple.
EOS was controlling the camera and called John over when she detected movement. "I believe we have action, John," she said.
John came over to look at the video screen. He observed two figures on the rooftop. One stood looking out across the concrete canyon. Just behind him was a blue duffle-bag. The second man was wearing a mostly black tracksuit with a yellow stripe. He was also African-American with an ear-piercing and an afro. This one was carrying a grey case. "That's Grafton alright," John said. "And I'm guessing the contents of his bag is a large amount of cash. But what's he buying off this man?" He pressed a button. "Colonel Jennings, this is Thunderbird 5. We've got action. Patching you through."
The footage from Thunderbird 5's camera was sent to GDF Headquarters in Washington. Colonel Jennings observed in the comfort of her office the live feed. "Receiving feed now, Tracy," she said. "What are you up to, Grafton?"
The man with the afro walked up behind Grafton. "Is it all here?" he asked, nodding to the bag on the floor.
"Take a look and see," replied Grafton as he turned to face the courier.
The courier put down the case and unzipped the bag. His eyes lit up at the huge amount of money that was inside.
"Now…let me see the package," said Grafton.
The courier picked the case up and laid it flat on his left arm before flicking the catch and lifting the lid. Now it was Grafton's eyes that lit up at the sight of what was inside. A thin silver cylinder with a strange yellow liquid was inside. It was glowing like a lava lamp.
"That's it!" said Colonel Jennings. "It's the Nerve Agent from Mercury Labs, California!"
"So we go?" asked John.
"We go," replied Colonel Jennings. "Send them in!"
John pressed a hologram button. "Thunderbird Shadow, Captain Liberty, go!"
The rumble of jet engines caused Grafton and the courier to look up. Coming towards them was a Skycycle which was being driven by Captain Liberty. Behind him was Thunderbird Shadow. Liberty and Kayo had been lying in wait for the handover to take place.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" Grafton growled furiously. He pulled out a hand-gun from within his suit's inside pocket and began firing at the approaching craft.
Neither Kayo nor Captain Liberty were phased by this. After all, Kayo was in the safety of Thunderbird Shadow and Liberty had his shield for protection. As Liberty's Skycycle zoomed low over the rooftop, the courier threw himself to the ground and placed his hands over his head for protection.
Grafton continued to shoot his gun. But as both craft went in opposite sides, he found himself struggling to decide what to shoot at. Thunderbird Shadow roared past, the force of wind from its passing not only knocked Grafton off his feet but also caused the duffle-bag to flip over and hundreds of notes went flying into the air. The frantic courier tried desperately to catch whatever he could before the majority were lost over the side of the building.
Captain Liberty came round for another pass. He saw Grafton pick himself up and begin shooting at him. He pulled up his shield and the bullets bounced harmlessly off. "GIVE IT UP, GRAFTON! YOU'RE DONE!"
"NEVER!" Grafton bellowed back. "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME IN! I WON'T ALLOW IT!"
"Man, he's desperate, isn't he?" remarked Kayo.
"He's all talk," replied Captain Liberty. "I've got the exit door covered. He's not getting off the route unless-"
Suddenly there came the howl of more jet engines as a large white and orange Helijet suddenly rose up from behind where Grafton was standing. It had two open sides and there, stood on the port side, holding onto the handrail with one hand and no safety-harness was Hicks, with a semi-automatic machine-pistol in the other hand.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Kayo asked as she banked Thunderbird Shadow around to come in.
Hicks saw Thunderbird Shadow approaching. He raised his weapon and began shooting at it. Kayo angled her craft so that the bullets could be deflected off the port wing. Not many actually hit due to the speed she was going.
As the Helijet touched down on the pad, Grafton grabbed the case containing the nerve agent only for the courier to try and take it back. "Give me THAT!" snapped Grafton, backhanding the courier and knocking him back onto the floor. He then ran towards the Helijet and scrambled inside, sitting himself down in the middle forward-facing passenger seat and setting the case down by his right side.
Captain Liberty moved in to try and intercept. Hicks now began firing at him as the Helijet took off again. Once again he used his shield to protect himself from the bullets, only for one of the bullets to hit his cycle's port engine. It exploded and he found himself fighting to keep control. "I'm hit! I'M HIT!"
Grafton and Hicks watched with satisfaction as Liberty spiralled down around the building and began to dive directly towards an office block on the opposite side of the street.
A young secretary was working away at her desk when she heard a whining sound coming from outside. She turned her just in time to see the Skycycle falling towards her last window. She screamed and dived out of her chair for cover as the cycle smashed through the window and demolished the chair, computer and the desk before coming to rest against the wall on the other side of the office.
Captain Liberty wasn't hurt. Not even a cut from the glass. He climbed off the wrecked Skycycle and dusted himself off. He then turned to see the startled secretary looking at him from behind the filing cabinet. "So sorry about that, ma'am," he apologised with a salute. "Please excuse me." And with that he ran out through the open door to make his way out of the building, leaving the poor secretary to wonder what had just happened. The explanation of a broken piece of Global Defence Force equipment was going to be a difficult one to explain to the boss.
Kayo was concerned after seeing the Skycycle fall from the sky and crash into the building. "Rigs, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Kayo," Captain Liberty replied. "But I'm afraid I can no longer pursue Grafton."
"No, but you can help me catch the courier."
"Madison? When did you get here?"
"Head to the front of the building," Hayley replied over the radio. "I'll pick you up there."
"Roger!" said Captain Liberty. "Kayo, you'll need to pursue that Helijet!"
"Understood," said Kayo. "Don't worry. Grafton's not getting away from me!" She then grunted as she pulled Thunderbird Shadow to starboard to get out of the line of fire as Hicks was shooting at her again whilst hanging out of the side of the Helijet.
"Kayo, do not destroy the Helijet," warned John. "I've run a simulation. If the nerve-agent goes off, it could destroy half the city."
"I wasn't planning to, John," answered Kayo. "We need Grafton to answer for what he's done."
The courier had recovered from Grafton's punch. Having lost both the money and the package, he knew he needed to get away. Running down to the street level, he kicked open the door and ran out into the side street where he mounted his gold-painted motorbike. He turned on the engine, revved it loudly and then sped off to the main street, narrowly missing two cars and then pulling a wheelie as he zoomed off down it. He passed the building that Captain Liberty's Skycycle had crashed into seconds before the Captain burst out onto the street himself. He saw the bike racing off and was about to throw his shield only to realise there was risk of it hitting an innocent person and he wasn't going to let that happen.
At that moment, Hayley's Cheetah Patrol Car came racing around the corner. It pulled up outside the building and the passenger door opened to allow Captain Liberty to climb inside, although fitting the shield in as well was a bit trickier than he thought.
"I thought you were going by air?" remarked Hayley.
"I ran out of air miles," replied Captain Liberty.
Hayley smirked and shook her head before spinning the Cheetah around and setting off in pursuit of the courier's motorbike.
"This is Captain Liberty calling Thunderbird 5. I don't suppose you have eyes on our two-wheeled friend, do you?"
"Affirmative, Captain," answered John. "He took a hard right two streets ahead of you. Be careful though, the traffic is heavy."
"Of course it is," remarked Hayley. "It's New York."
Kayo continued her pursuit of Grafton's Helijet. They exited one of the concrete canyons and began to head out across the harbor towards Liberty Island. All the while, Hicks continued to hang out of the side, holding on with one hand whilst shooting his weapon at Thunderbird Shadow. Kayo was getting irritated by the sound of bullets ricocheting off the fuselage. She had thought about maybe trying to shoot the Helijet down over the water, but clearly the pilot had been told counter that by flying right over Liberty Island which was full of tourists. It looped right around in front of the Statue of Liberty before heading back towards Manhattan once again with Thunderbird Shadow still on its tail. The sight of two aircraft flying low was enough to draw attention but it caused concern in some cases panic when the sound of Hicks' machine-gun could be heard shooting.
By now the courier had realised that he was being followed. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the red Cheetah on his tail. He had no idea what it was for he couldn't see the markings on the side and wasn't convinced it was a Police Car but he was smart enough to realise that whoever was inside was chasing him. Like Grafton, he wasn't prepared to let himself be caught, so he revved the engine even harder and tried to pull away. It was a futile effort though as the Cheetah was faster. It was just that Hayley chose to stay behind where they could see him at all times. Soon they began to encounter traffic. The courier wasn't phased as he was able to nip in and out of the cars. Horns beeped and drivers yelled foul language at both the biker and the Cheetah for cutting them up.
"This guy is crazy!" remarked Captain Liberty. "Not only is he driving like an idiot but he's also not got a crash-helmet on?! He's insane!"
"WOAH!" exclaimed Hayley suddenly as a large lorry emerged from one of the streets onto theirs. She made a hard swerve as it skidded to a halt, its horn blaring. The back end of the Cheetah kicked out and knocked over some trash cans as it went. The courier looked back, thinking the lorry had cut off his pursuers. To his dismay, it had not, so he continued to race his bike as fast as it would go.
Hicks had reloaded his weapon during the pass around the Statue of Liberty. He'd done it out of sight of Kayo and therefore she didn't know. "Grrr! How many bullets can one machine-pistol hold?" she grumbled.
"Try not to get hit too many times, Thunderbird Shadow," said John. "Brains will probably hand you a can of spray paint otherwise."
"Not helping, John," retorted Kayo as she ducked and dodged her craft to avoid the bullets from Hicks' weapon. "But I can't let this go on."
The Helijet suddenly made a sharp turn to the right into another canyon. Kayo was only just able to turn Thunderbird Shadow around in time, narrowly missing a skyscraper, although the speed and wind rush caused several windows to shatter. The people below had to run to try and avoid getting showered in glass.
"Oops," said Kayo. "I should have expected that."
The Helijet then exited the canyon and came out over the East River. It dived down under the Brooklyn Bridge and began to head out over open water again towards New Jersey. It dipped down low as Kayo took Thunderbird Shadow up over the top. Hicks fired his weapon up towards the underside of the craft. BANG! Something exploded and a streak of flames began to erupt out from underneath Thunderbird Shadow.
"What?!" Kayo exclaimed. "Oh, no! I'm hit!"
The chase between the courier biker and the Cheetah had now left the streets of Manhattan and crossed the river onto a freeway leading out of the main city. The biker's riding was becoming more and more reckless with each manoeuvre he made. Despite this, Hayley was not going to give up the pursuit. Nor was the biker so it seemed. He nipped over into the left lane, overtook one car, then came back over to the right into the lane he'd been in before to overtake another. Hayley judged the gaps between the cars and did similar moves to get past the cars. Then he saw there was a turning off to go onto another freeway lower down. There wasn't much room between the two cars that were closest and he missed the front of the one behind him with centimetres to spare. The car driver, shocked, slammed on her brakes. The car screeched to a stop, and the car behind did not. It slammed into the back and then two more collided into them. Now the road leading off the freeway onto the next was blocked.
"Damn it, he's getting away!" cursed Captain Liberty.
"Wrong," replied Hayley. "He thinks he is." She reached down on her right and pulled back a lever on the console between the seats. This unleashed the Cheetah's party-trick. A pair of fins came out the sides at the front, the sides of the doors folded out into wings and parts of the back lifted up to reveal a pair of jet engines. Hayley then engaged the car's temporary flight-mode and a set of powerful thrusters underneath the car pushed it up off the ground as the rear jets also roared into life. The Cheetah lifted up off the road and flew right over the side of the bridge down towards the freeway below where the biker had gone.
The biker came out onto the freeway and joined the road feeling very pleased with himself. "Heheheh," he chuckled out loud to himself. "Try and catch me now, you- WHAAAA?!" He'd glanced back behind him expecting to see the Cheetah still on the bridge. He almost fell off the bike in shock when he saw it gliding down through the air towards him. The Cheetah landed with a thud on the tarmac and the wings and jets folded back inside. "WHAT THE HELL, BRO?!' the biker yelled in frustrated disbelief. "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME, MAN?!" He revved the engine of his bike as hard as it would and tried desperately to get away.
This freeway was more open than the previous one. There were fewer cars at this particular section so Hayley was more content to keep closer to the bike.
"You know there's only one way we can end this," Captain Liberty said.
"Yes, I do, Captain," Hayley answered. "You up for it?"
Captain Liberty held his shield tightly in his hands and gave it a small rub of affection. "Always," he replied.
Hayley increased power to the Cheetah's engine. It accelerated forwards and overtook the surprised biker on the right. Then she swerved the car to the left and it skidded to a stop with the front section right in the path of the oncoming bike. At the same time the passenger side door where Captain Liberty was swung upwards to open.
The biker had no time to react. He tried to apply the brakes but the bike slammed straight into the side of the Cheetah. Its back-end shot up and it flipped itself over, catapulting the man high into the air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he flew uncontrollably above the roadway.
Captain Liberty made his move. He used his suit's increased power to push himself up off the ground and up after the biker. He grabbed hold and pulled him round behind as they fell back towards the road. They hit the tarmac with the shield taking the impact. It screeched and sparks flew as they skidded along the road for about ten metres before coming to a stop. The bike flipped and rolled at least half a dozen times before it crashed into the side wall and exploded after the fuel tank ignited.
Normally an impact on a hard surface like the freeway would have caused significant injuries or even death to the person landing. But not to Captain Liberty. The toughness of his suit absorbed the impact so he was protected from any injuries. The use of the shield had helped that as well. The biker wasn't hurt either for Captain Liberty had been between him and the tarmac. As soon as they came to a stop, Captain Liberty threw him across the road where he rolled a few times and then came to a stop on his back. As Captain Liberty picked himself up and walked over, Hayley caught up on the Cheetah and blocked off any potential escape route for the biker. Not that he could if he'd wanted for he was in too much shock over what had happened to do or say anything.
"Where is the nerve agent?" Captain Liberty asked in a dangerous voice.
But the biker couldn't answer him. Instead, he slowly pointed with a shaky arm towards the sky. This told the two GDF officers exactly what they needed to know.
"He hasn't got it," said Hayley.
"It's on the helijet with Grafton!" Captain Liberty said. He got onto his headpiece. "Kayo, the nerve agent is aboard the helijet! You have to stop it somehow."
But all he got in response was the sound of Kayo straining and struggling. "Ugggggggggh! Come on! COME…ON!"
"Kayo, are you okay?" Captain Liberty asked, concerned. "Kayo? KAYO?! ANSWER ME!"
Kayo was desperately trying to save her wounded Thunderbird. She tried to pull the craft upwards but soon it began to roll over and spiral uncontrollably back down towards the river below. "MAYDAY! MAYDAY! I'M GOING DOWN!"
SPLASH!
